In what it's calling the largest technology release in its history, Wind River
today announced a new development suite, three market-specific
platforms (MSP), one general-purpose platform and its first Linux platform.

Wind River Platform for Network Equipment, Linux Edition, is based on the 2.6
Linux Kernel and includes Carrier Grade Linux (CGL) features. The new Linux
edition platform also supports the Advanced Telecom Computing Architecture
(ATCA) standard, which is an emerging modular communications specification
for telecommunications platforms.

As the platform name implies, the Platform
for Network Equipment, Linux Edition, is suited for networking equipment,
including soft switch, DSLAMS , core routers, optical
switches and other networking infrastructure components.

One thing Wind River won't be supporting with its foray into embedded
Linux, though, is the real-time extension
recently announced
by its competitor, MontaVista.

"We don't think the open source community is going to support that patch,"
John Bruggeman, Wind River chief marketing officer, told
internetnews.com. "We don't have any of our customers asking for Real Time
Linux beyond the soft real time that already exists in Linux 2.6."

Bruggeman explained that the 2.6 kernel has soft real time capabilities
that meet the needs of Wind River's customers in the Linux space.

"When our customers want real time, it's more than real time," Bruggeman
added. "They need real time, they need a very small footprint, and they need
very high availability, performance and scalability. Even if Linux was real
time, it wouldn't necessarily meet all those other requirements. When our
customers have those difficult requirements, they go to VxWorks."

In addition to the Linux edition of the platform for Network Equipment Wind
River is releasing a VxWorks edition of the platform, as well. They're also
adding a market specific platform for industrial devices and one for
consumer devices.

Wind River's MSPs support all phases of the device software development process.
The Wind River platforms for Consumer Devices, Industrial Devices and Network Equipment
include a number of enhancements, such as IPv6 routing support, XML/SOAP, SNMP and Web server updates, IPSec
updates, firewall and 802.1x wireless capability. Also, the MSPs have enhanced
messaging capabilities that allow for transparent multiprocessor messaging
between VxWorks and Linux or other operating systems.

Tying it all together from a development point of view is a new release of
Wind River Workbench version 2.2. Workbench is a development suite that has
capabilities that extend from the development process all the way up to
application development and testing. The suite is based on the Eclipse 3.0
Framework and supports multiple target systems including Wind River's own
VxWorks and Linux as well as in-house proprietary systems.

"Our agnostic approach to run time platforms delivers against where the
market is moving," Bruggeman said.